


A Touch of Dedication

by ideallyqualia



Series: Birds and Wingfics [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Birds, M/M, Penguins, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-19 19:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7375150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa accidentally turns Iwaizumi into a penguin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Touch of Dedication

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jucee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jucee/gifts).



> Inspired by [this art](http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=53921004) of Iwaizumi as a penguin.

Matsukawa pointed his finger at the book page, underlining a sentence and rereading it again as everyone looked at each other. The room settled silent for a few moments.

"Don't say anything," Oikawa said.

A clipped snort rushed through Matsukawa's nose. "Do I even have to?"

"I'm hungry. Do you think he's hungry?" Hanamaki stood up.

"Makki, sit down!" Oikawa grabbed him by his shirt and yanked down. It didn't make him fumble, but Hanamaki looked over to him, pausing while standing.

"I don't know how you messed up this badly," Matsukawa said, "but you did."

"Are penguins dangerous? He looks mad," Hanamaki said.

"No, he's not dangerous. It's Iwa-chan, he wouldn't do anything mean!"

"But what if his penguin-sized brain makes him--"

"Don't finish that sentence," Matsukawa interrupted Hanamaki. He gestured at Iwaizumi.

Oikawa turned to Iwaizumi. "Can you talk?"

Iwaizumi's eyes narrowed. His flippers were rigid at his sides, flattened to his body. He let out an exhale that turned into unintelligible warbles, low and irritated under his breath. His eyes shifted.

"That glare is definitely Iwaizumi's, but he can't talk," Hanamaki said.

Oikawa pulled the spell book away from Matsukawa. "I don't understand. I followed the spell perfectly! Iwa-chan shouldn't be a penguin, he should just be invisible."

The circumstances of the situation got to Hanamaki, and he finally let out his laughter, resting his hand against the back of the couch and lowering his head to laugh downward. He was laughing so hard that the couch shook a little.

"Let me see it again." Matsukawa swiped the book out from under Oikawa's hands, sliding it to himself on the table. He glanced over the pages again.

"I did my best, Iwa-chan. I didn't mean to make you a bird." Oikawa smiled and reached out to pet Iwaizumi's head.

Iwaizumi raised a wing and slapped his hand away. The swing went clumsy and barely hit Oikawa, sliding off from the misplaced momentum, but Oikawa still grimaced.

"Hey, I found the problem." Matsukawa pointed at the page numbers. "You're missing an entire page. You started an invisibility spell and went into a different one."

A harsh burst of breath wrung out more laughter from Hanamaki. Iwaizumi ground his beak and twisted it in the air, and he angled himself away from Hanamaki.

"Don't worry, I can fix this." Oikawa pulled the book back to himself and crossed his legs under the table, gathering himself into anticipated preparation, his hands hovering over the book and stilling.

"Try to do it without calling your mom," Matsukawa said.

"I'm not going to!"

Oikawa grunted and hefted the pages to the back of the book. It was a standard spellbook, thick from the hundreds of spells. Oikawa knew how to cast spells from growing up at the top of his class, but he knew less about how to undo them. Reversing spells was much more complicated.

Oikawa leaned over the book. Hanamaki's laughter died down, and he relocated to the floor with Matsukawa to sit beside Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi was too busy testing out his new body to care about them snickering at him.

He moved his flippers in the air to look at them with grudging curiosity. He could control them, but only awkwardly, in jerky movements.

Iwaizumi tried to take a step. He tripped and fell on his stomach, and his squawk drew Oikawa's attention.

"What's the matter?"

Iwaizumi's wings flailed uselessly, his beak clacking as he looked up at them.

"I know he's mad, but he looks a little cute," Hanamaki said.

Oikawa rose to his knees and crawled to Iwaizumi. He bent over Iwaizumi, hands landing on Iwaizumi's sides to pick him up and hold him. Iwaizumi immediately wriggled and slipped out, and he fell on his stomach again.

"Treating him like a pet is going to make him really mad," Matsukawa said. "More than before."

OIkawa's head snapped to Matsukawa. "He's not a pet!"

Hanamaki leaned forward to Iwaizumi. "We'll figure this out." He helped Iwaizumi back on his feet, and they all watched as Iwaizumi wobbled, flippers spread for balance.

Oikawa grumbled and stood up. "I'll get Iwa-chan some food."

Oikawa walked around the corner into the kitchen, and he opened the fridge. Other than fish, nothing said "penguin-food" to him, except for ice cream.

He took them both out of the fridge. Fish would take a while to thaw and cook, but Iwaizumi wasn't complaining at the moment.

Oikawa returned to the living room with a bowl of ice cream, and he placed it in front of Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi flapped his wings and turned his beak up.

"Why don't you just give him ice cubes?" Matsukawa asked.

"I know that's supposed to be a joke, but now I think it might be a good idea..." Oikawa trailed off.

"Isn't it too hot for him? Should we stick him in the freezer?"

"Hanamaki, that's _barbaric_ ," Matsukawa said.

“It is not! He’d probably even try to thank us in his penguin language.”

The look on Iwaizumi’s face suggested otherwise. He glared at the bowl of ice cream, and then used a wing to topple it over in the living room. It spilled all over the carpet.

Hanamaki laughed. “He’s like a child,” he said.

Iwaizumi glared at him, but it made Hanamaki laugh even harder.

“At least he doesn’t know how to walk like this,” Matsukawa said.

“Even if he did, it’d just be waddling.” Hanamaki picked Iwaizumi up by his sides, and Iwaizumi’s feet kicked. They were too short to do anything, so they kicked in the air with small movements that looked like steps.

"We're going to be _adults_ about this," Oikawa said. "He's still Iwa. We have to undo it."

"How?" Hanamaki asked, still holding Iwaizumi.

"First, put him down."

Hanamaki placed him back on the floor. Iwaizumi repeated the steps he was making in the air, and he fell again.

Oikawa's head turned. "You're really clumsy."

Iwaizumi raised a flipper at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hanamaki asked.

"I don't know. It could be any _one_ of his fingers," Matsukawa said.

Iwaizumi squawked.

"Fine, I'll stop." Matsukawa sat back.

"Makki." Oikawa pointed at him. "You're not doing anything. Go cast a snow spell in the backyard. Make Iwa-chan comfy."

"None of you are doing anything." Hanamaki stood anyway and walked outside.

"There's some fish thawing in the kitchen. Can you cook it?" Oikawa asked.

"You're just giving me something to do since he complained."

"The faster, the better." Oikawa tapped his wrist.

"You have to be wearing a watch to do that."

"You should do it before he gets hungry. Are you hungry, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa turned and faced him. Iwaizumi opened his beak slightly and cheeped.

" _Cute_ ," Oikawa said. "Do it again."

Matsukawa shook his head and left.

 

* * *

 

Hours passed, and Iwaizumi became one _irritated_ penguin. Oikawa sat with him on the floor of the living room, feeding him one slice of fish at a time, cooing and murmuring. His dog slept in its bed, uninterested in giving Iwaizumi the same treatment.

"Here comes another fish. Here comes another fish." Oikawa dangled it above Iwaizumi.

The first few times, Iwaizumi reached up on his toes with his beak, stretching his neck and flapping his wings. Oikawa's stretched smile and too-entertained reaction drew out a low rumble in Iwaizumi, and he became less and less responsive.

Oikawa slumped. "Are you full? You're not eating anymore."

"Here. I know what he wants." Matsukawa kneeled off the couch and lifted Iwaizumi. He remained cooperative and still, his flippers and feet hanging limp. His eyes stared ahead, dead.

Matsukawa carried him outside and plopped him in a pile of snow. Iwaizumi dropped straight down. His wings moved in a slow flap, and he went still again.

"You dropped him face-down!" Oikawa stepped out from where he was trailing behind Matsukawa and picked him back up again.

His hands fit under Iwaizumi's wings, propping them slightly at an aborted wing flap angle. Iwaizumi made another rumble.

Hanamaki leaned to look. "It looks like he's overloading."

Oikawa lowered him into a level clearing of snow and patted his head. "There."

"He's still a penguin," Matsukawa said.

"I'll do something about that now. Keep him busy." Oikawa waved at them and disappeared into the house to find his phone.

He returned a few minutes later. "I got Watacchi on the phone, and he says we should..."

Oikawa stopped. Matsukawa and Hanamaki were gone. Iwaizumi was by himself, and he was sliding on the floor on his stomach, gliding on the patches of ice.

"Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi braked with his flippers and turned himself away.

"You're embarrassed! I can tell! I know you better than anyone. You move like Iwa." He approached closer and crouched. "Having fun?"

Iwaizumi clacked his beak and squawked.

"Too bad I don't understand penguin." He stood back up. "Watacchi told me he knows someone, an expert in animal magic, and he can fix you." He glanced to the gate. "Where's Mattsun and Makki?"

Iwaizumi rowed his flippers on the floor and crawled away.

 

* * *

 

Oikawa stretched his legs on the couch. Iwaizumi warbled on the floor and tried walking again. He waddled at very slow steps, his head tilted down to watch himself, beak clacking in frustration. He shuffled into a rug and kicked it into a pile by accident.

Watari had given Oikawa the address of the witch that agreed to help them, but there were still hours before the meeting. Oikawa resigned himself to staring out the window at the unseasonable snow.

Hanamaki hung a fish above Iwaizumi. "Want a fish?"

Iwaizumi ignored him and moved in a slow turn, facing away to waddle in the other direction.

"That's a little mean," Matsukawa said. "He can't reach."

"That's the point."

"He's given up by now. Look at him." Matsukawa lowered to Iwaizumi. "Is he bothering you?"

Iwaizumi gave a stiff nod.

"You're exaggerating. I'm just giving him fish. Look." Hanamaki waggled it again. "It's just food."

Iwaizumi glanced at it from the corners of his eyes. He leaned into a step closer to it, and tentatively reached up with his beak, his wings flapping backward.

Hanamaki pulled it away and snorted. "You fell for it again."

"You're harassing a penguin," Matsukawa said.

"It's Iwaizumi. Those cancel each other out."

"He looks devastated."

"No he doesn't."

Iwaizumi made his way to Oikawa's leg and rammed his head into it at a slow and clumsy waddle.

"What do you want me to do?" Oikawa asked with a shrug. "I can't stop him."

Matsukawa motioned around Hanamaki and Iwaizumi. "Turn him into a penguin."

" _No_ ," Hanamaki said.

"Why not? It sounds fun."

Matsukawa slapped the fish out of Hanamaki's hands. Iwaizumi spun to track it, and he swiveled so hard that he fell on his stomach again. Hanamaki and Matsukawa both burst into laughter.

"He wants the fish so bad!" Hanamaki exclaimed.

Iwaizumi honked in distress and scrambled to crawl away. He scuttled along the floor, feet kicking and flippers fumbling toward the fish. He prodded at it with his beak and gobbled it up.

Hanamaki rubbed at his eyes. "If he's still Iwaizumi, then why does he love fish now?"

"Everything about him has been penguin-ified?" Matsukawa scratched his neck. "His head even looks like his human head. Pointy."

Iwaizumi scuttled to a chair and clung for balance to climb to his feet. He held his wings out and tried walking again.

Oikawa slid to the floor and scooted to him. "Still don't know how to walk with your penguin body?"

Iwaizumi squared himself and sunk a little, eyes steeling to the wall. He forged ahead with a few more wobbly steps.

"I'll help you." He steadied his hands behind Iwaizumi and followed him.

Iwaizumi rumbled, but he didn't run or whack him. He continued walking at an uneven pace.

He managed to leave the living room and waddle to the dining room. A pencil stood in his path, and he struggled to stoop for it, his beak clamping around it. He tilted his head down, lifted his flippers, and let the pencil fall into them.

It stayed in his flippers for a few moments. He fumbled and dropped it, and it thudded on the floor. He stared down at it.

"Iwa-chan, you clumsy bird. You know you can't hold anything like that."

Iwaizumi closed his beak, his face blank.

"You're just as bad as Hanamaki," Matsukawa said from his seat.

Hanamaki moved to the floor and sat in front of the table. He opened his backpack. "Iwaizumi, come over here."

Iwaizumi glanced at Oikawa and looked back at Hanamaki. He seemed to make a decision, and he waddled slowly back to the living room.

"Here. Try picking these up," Hanamaki said.

Oikawa followed Iwaizumi in. "What're you doing?"

Iwaizumi pecked at the table for good measure.

"I want to see what kinds of stuff he can pick up."

"So torture," Oikawa said.

"It is _not_ torture."

"He can't pick anything up with those short little wings."

"Let him try." Hanamaki nudged a glasses case closer to Iwaizumi's edge of the table. "You're not going to let Oikawa make _fun_ of you, right? Don't let him mock you. You can hold these on your own."

Iwaizumi leaned to the table, his wings reaching up to the ledge. He couldn't go any further on his toes, and he squawked.

"He's just asking to be picked up," Oikawa cooed.

"That's the _opposite_ of what he's trying to do." Hanamaki pushed it into Iwaizumi's waiting wings. "Just take it."

Iwaizumi stumbled to catch it. It clattered on the floor, and Iwaizumi fell still, frozen with a stare down at it.

"This is traumatizing him," Matsukawa said.

Hanamaki handed Iwaizumi a chocolate bar. "Try this."

Iwaizumi tightened his wings to his sides and angled forward, beak-first. He held it in his mouth and tilted his head back to raise it in the air.

"That's cheating." Hanamaki yanked it from him. "Maybe a pillow is easier?"

"You're making him _mad_." Matsukawa still pulled out a pillow from the couch and gave it to Hanamaki, who passed it to Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi grabbed it and stuffed it under his wings. It was almost as big as him, and it fluffed around his wings from the pressure, but it stayed in place.

Hanamaki rested against the couch. "I'm bored again."

"We still have hours until we have to leave. Come up with something," Matsukawa said.

Oikawa removed the pillow from Iwaizumi's grip and lifted him up. "Do you want to try swimming, Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi whirred in his throat.

"I think that's a no," Matsukawa said.

"Aww. Too bad, Iwa-chan, I'd really love to see you swim like a penguin." Oikawa carried him outside and lowered him onto a chair. "Makki, can you come out here? You're the best at water."

"I am? If you say so." Hanamaki headed outside and approached Oikawa. "What do you want me to do?"

"Make something for Iwa to swim in."

Hanamaki kicked at a rock. "How?"

"I don't know." Oikawa wiggled his fingers. "Make water appear."

"Okay." Hanamaki cracked his hands and started enacting a spell. It flashed over in a few moments, and water dumped onto Oikawa's head, spilling damp onto his clothes.

Oikawa exhaled a breath. "Makki," he said.

"You weren't specific."

Iwaizumi crowed a laugh.

"Make a _pool_ ," Oikawa ordered. "Big enough for Iwa-chan."

"Alright, alright, I'm getting to it." Hanamaki cast spells to carve out the earth and fill it with water.

The air was still frigid from the snow, and their breaths clouded in mists, but the water didn't freeze. Iwaizumi dipped his foot in.

"There. I'm done." Hanamaki sat down on a chair. He yelped and stood right back up. "It's _freezing_."

Oikawa shook Hanamaki's shoulder. "Look, he's swimming!"

Iwaizumi paddled his feet at the water surface. He inclined into a dive and disappeared, blurring with the water's opacity. He drifted around in the makeshift pool.

Oikawa shifted. "You made it too small."

"You didn't care when I started."

"He doesn't have a lot of room to move."

"He looks fine to me," Hanamaki said.

They lapsed into silence and watched Iwaizumi swim. He swam in a circle near the edge, his flippers so slight that he was barely flapping them, gliding through the water at a comfortable speed.

"How long has he been under there?" Oikawa asked.

"A few minutes. Why?"

"Can penguins hold their breath that long?"

"Probably."

"He's moving slower."

"You're imagining things."

Oikawa stepped past him. "I'm taking him out."

"You're being _ridiculous_ and you're going to get _hypothermia_."

"I'm not jumping _in_." Oikawa waved his hand and glowed a levitation spell into existence.

Iwaizumi floated out of the water. His wings hung down as he leveled a glare at Oikawa.

"Maybe you just need a tiny little pool, Iwa-chan."

"Like what, a kiddie pool?" Hanamaki asked.

"Or a bathtub."

 

* * *

 

Oikawa left Iwaizumi sitting outside in a small plastic pool. Hanamaki had melted away the ice and snow and returned the backyard to its normal state, leaving it in spring.

Oikawa opened the door. "Iwa-chan, we're leaving!"

He caught a glimpse of Iwaizumi idly flapping his wings and splashing water in boredom. Iwaizumi stopped and let his wings drop. He pulled himself over the plastic wall and landed in a clumsy flop.

Oikawa clicked his tongue and picked him up. "Watacchi's gonna lead us. He's waiting with Mattsun down the street," he explained. He carried him out the front door and met with Hanamaki.

"Do you know who Watari meant when he said he knew someone?" Hanamaki asked.

"No clue. In fact he sounded suspicious, like he didn't want to tell me."

"I doubt it." Hanamaki bent to look at Iwaizumi. "He looks exhausted."

"And you weren't _any_ help," Oikawa said.

"I don't know how to put it, but you were just as bad."

"No I wasn't."

"You managed to be needier than a helpless penguin."

" _Need_ y?"

"You did that thing you do, you pretended to help him in a backwards way and just bothered him."

"I was very helpful. I gave him fish when you wouldn't." Oikawa readjusted Iwaizumi in his arms.

Matsukawa greeted them at the street corner. He stood with Watari alone on the sidewalk, and Watari waved them closer.

"So who're we meeting?" Hanamaki asked.

"You'll see when we get there." Watari turned and started walking.

"That bad, huh." Hanamaki glanced at Oikawa. "I think I know who it is now."

"I don't care. I want Iwa back."

"You'll get him back, alright."

By the time they arrived at their destination, Iwaizumi was asleep, his head resting in a loll that almost reached the side of Oikawa's arm.

"I'm going to miss this part." Oikawa petted his head.

Watari walked ahead off the sidewalk and knocked on the door to a house. "Ushijima?"

Oikawa's hand stopped. "Who?"

Ushijima opened the door. "Welcome. Thank you for bringing them, Watari." He stepped aside to let them in.

Before Oikawa could say anything, Watari interrupted him with an elbow to his side. "We're all grateful," he said for them.

Ushijima nodded and headed further inside. Everyone followed him.

"I can't believe you went to Ushiwaka of all people," Oikawa hissed to Watari. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"You mean when he fed your dog, and your dog licked him?"

"It's not his fault that your dog likes him more than you," Hanamaki muttered.

Oikawa turned. "What was that?"

"Are you really going to blame your dog for liking an animal lover for a day?" Matsukawa asked.

"No. I blame Ushiwaka."

"But he's the best at using magic with animals, and he's close by. There's no one else we can choose," Watari said.

"Isn't this whole _thing_ Oikawa's fault? Who turned him into a penguin?" Hanamaki asked.

"I think that's rather impressive," Ushijima said. "Animal magic is difficult, and Oikawa did it on accident." He led them through his house, into his backyard.

"Well..." Oikawa grumbled. He held Iwaizumi out. "Fix him."

The movement jostled Iwaizumi awake, and he stretched his beak in a yawn.

"According to Watari, you combined an invisibility spell with a gravitational one. Right?" Ushijima asked.

"Right..."

"I looked over the spells when Matsukawa sent them. Watari was wrong. The second half was a grounding spell. It involves flightless birds."

Matsukawa and Hanamaki exploded into laughter.

"A flightless _bird_ ," Hanamaki gasped.

Oikawa cleared his throat. "So can you fix him or not?"

"I can. I've already prepared a counterspell here." Ushijima motioned at a bottle filled with a mixture. "I made this earlier. I'll cast a spell with this, and that should undo it."

He uncapped it and poured it out into the air, and it pooled into a floating wisp. "Did you bring clothes for him? He won't have any when he returns to his human form."

"No one told me he'd be _naked_ ," Oikawa said. He handed Iwaizumi to Hanamaki and reached for his supply bag. "Fortunately, I'm always prepared."

He pulled out a robe, and it unfolded in a flap.

Matsukawa glanced down its length. "I think it's too short, even for him."

"Don't size him up naked in your head!" Oikawa turned it away. Iwaizumi gave a caw.

"Please let me concentrate," Ushijima said. He guided the wisp to Iwaizumi, and it started to cover him in a glow.

Oikawa threw his robe over Iwaizumi's body at the end of the spell. "Don't _look_ at him," Oikawa said.

Ushijima stepped back. "You almost interrupted it."

"I didn't." Oikawa waved him off and crouched to Iwaizumi. "How do you feel, Iwa?"

"Ugh." Iwaizumi grabbed the back of his head. "My mouth tastes like fish."

Oikawa flashed a smile. "You were a very adorable penguin, Iwa-chan."

"Downright _darling_." Hanamaki snorted.

Iwaizumi gathered his legs under himself. "Don't look," he said gruffly, "I'm getting up."

"Can you walk? What if I carry you?"

"I can walk."

"I don't think you can," Ushijima said. "Transformation usually leaves you disoriented."

"I'm _fine_." Iwaizumi stood up and wobbled, almost collapsing. Oikawa ducked under his arm to support him.

"I'm carrying you," Oikawa decided.

"This is the last time we bother you with penguins," Hanamaki told Ushijima on the way out. Ushijima nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for saving him," Matsukawa said. Watari followed him out, and Oikawa left last, Iwaizumi curled tight and stiff in his arms.

"You were wrong, Mattsun. It fits him fine." Oikawa glanced at his feet. "Only his ankles are showing, really."

"I forgot how short he actually was."

"And he needs to be carried, too. Still a penguin."

"I'm turning you into a frog in your _sleep,_ " Iwaizumi said.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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